THE government is capable of handling the Covid-19 pandemic, including having sufficient quarantine centres to place people, said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said there are 409 quarantine centres in the country that can accommodate 40,000 individuals, of those 90 centres are up and running.

He added that since March 18, only 4,933 individuals have been placed at the centres.

“The centres can accommodate 40,000 people and this is more than enough.

“Yesterday alone, 1,088 people were quarantined. Of that, 711 arrived at KLIA. We have made it clear that our citizens arriving through KLIA will be quarantined for 14 days.

“For those transiting in KLIA before touching down in Sabah and Sarawak, they will be quarantined in Sabah and Sarawak.

“However, if their flights are delayed or if their flights are for the next two or three days, they will have to be quarantined at the quarantine centres here before they can fly to their hometown,” Ismail said.

Meanwhile, he said 426 areas in 11 states have completed the sanitation process yesterday.

He added the process involved 170 police stations and 38,140 low-cost flats in high-risk areas.

“As of yesterday, the Housing and Local Government Ministry launched the sanitation process at 426 areas in 11 states.

“For strata apartments, the meeting today agreed to allow the management office to open as usual during the movement control order with only two employees are allowed to work at any one time.”

Malaysia is still observing a mandatory movement control order that will end on April 14.

Under the order, convenient stores, restaurants and petrol stations are only allowed to operate from 8am to 8pm daily.

The order was imposed after Covid-19 infection cases went up in the country.

On Friday, infection cases rose by 217 cases, with 41 students of a tahfiz school testing positive, bringing the total number of infections to 3,333 cases.

Another three fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 53, said Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Of the positive cases, 108 are being treated at the intensive care unit, with 54 needing respiratory support.

A total of 60 patients have recovered and discharged from the hospitals. This brings the total number of recoveries to 827. – April 4, 2020.